by Robert Klemko, USA TODAY Sports

by Robert Klemko, USA TODAY Sports

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - San Francisco 49ers left tackle Joe Staley is asked to name his most athletic teammate - the biggest freak on a team full of them.

He has options: Wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. runs the 40-yard dash in 4.3 seconds. Quarterback Colin Kaepernick can throw a football a country mile. Tight end Vernon Davis ran the 40 in 4.38 seconds and bench-pressed 225 pounds 33 times at the combine six years ago.

"Biggest freak? Probably Aldon Smith," Staley says.

The truth is, Niners players have seen too many freakish plays by the second-year outside linebacker to deny his place on the top of this list. Naturally, they think he's the best pass rusher in the NFL, too.

By the end of this season, the record books could support that theory. With another sack Sunday in a 16-13 overtime loss to the St. Louis Rams, Smith has 17½ this season and more in his first two seasons than anyone else in league history. After 28 games, he has 31½; Reggie White had 30 in his first 28 games and 31 in his first two years.

Smith has four more games to nab a more coveted mark: Michael Strahan's single-season record of 22½, set in 2001 with the New York Giants.

Smith says he's not focused on the record, or any individual record for that matter. He didn't know of Hall of Famer Fred Dean, whose team single-season sack record set in 1983 he matched Sunday, until seeing the former defensive end among the pictures on the wall at the team facility.

Smith instead focuses on securing a playoff berth for the 49ers, now 8-3-1 despite a shutdown defensive effort vs. the Rams.

The Niners face the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, travel to the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks and finish at home against the Arizona Cardinals, who lead the league in sacks allowed.

Smith wasn't the most athletic player in his draft class of pass rushers coming out of Missouri after his redshirt sophomore season. Standing 6-4 and weighing 263 pounds, he ran the 40 in 4.74 seconds. But it's his lateral quickness, drive and production that made Smith the seventh overall pick and have him growing into a force in the NFL.

"I'd beat him in a foot race, no question," Davis says. "But it's the side-to-side, the agility that makes him special."

Staley says the hardest part of his season is the time each summer he has to face Smith in training camp. A reserve lineman takes on those responsibilities during the season.

"It sucks," Staley says. "I always think training camp is the hardest time of my year, just because I have to go against him and (defensive lineman) Justin (Smith) every single day. But it makes me a better player."

Staley says two things have happened for Aldon Smith since he came up a half-sack short of the rookie record of 14½, set by the original "Freak," Jevon Kearse, in 1999. Smith, 23, expanded his array of moves during the offseason, and he's able to read the intention of blockers before they get to him.

"He's still developing," Staley says. "But he has everything. He's got every single pass-rush move you can have. He doesn't hang his hat on one thing. He works really hard with the guys on the line, and he's playing well. I think he's also a smarter pass rusher, in terms of knowing what the tackle is doing, how to read it and how to take advantage of it."

Smith credits his dabbling in boxing and mixed martial arts for some of the improvement.

"Imagine someone trying to get their hands on you in a fight," he says. "It's just like a tackle trying to get his hands on you. It all translates to how you move your hands."

Smith's best performance of the season came against the Chicago Bears on Nov. 19 on Monday Night Football. He stunned the Bears and left tackle Gabe Carimi for 5½ sacks in a 32-7 decision. The total was the most in the league in more than five years. He also had two forced fumbles in that game.

Jason Campbell was starting for injured Jay Cutler at quarterback, and in a later shakeup Carimi wound up being benched in part for his performance. Campbell described the game as "probably the worst nightmare."

Smith says the 5½ sacks marked the most productive game in his life. Not in high school nor at Missouri did he come anywhere close.

"I've gotten so much better since then," Smith says. "I've matured a lot in my game, and I didn't play with a bunch of amazing athletes. But really, I'm just a far better player and with a lot more knowledge of the game."

Offseason growth

Smith's 2012 performance has convinced many he'll be a force in the NFL for years to come, but his offseason had some wondering if he could last beyond this season.

In late January, after the 49ers were eliminated from the playoffs, Smith was arrested and charged with driving under the influence in Miami Beach. Five months later, he suffered minor injuries after being stabbed multiple times at his own house party in East San Jose. Smith says there were more than 100 guests at the party. Two people were shot but survived.

Smith was contrite after the incident: "Letting everybody down was probably the saddest part," he said then. The offseason trouble affirmed the book on Smith coming out of Missouri. Pro Football Weekly's annual draft guide said of Smith, "(He is) still immature and needs to figure out what it means to be a pro."

Did the offseason stabbing help Smith figure anything out?

"I'd be a fool to say no, right?" he says. "Seriously, it made me definitely grow up and realize don't take life for granted and just make smart decisions."

Smith says he doesn't think he put himself in a bad situation by throwing a party with more than 100 guests - "You can be anywhere and anything can happen," he says - but says he doesn't throw large parties anymore.

Those close to Smith were rattled by the incident. His former AAU basketball coach, Matt Suther, was in Smith's corner when he was trying to decide whether to leave Missouri with two years of eligibility left. He had suffered a leg injury that kept him out for three games as a sophomore.

"With any kid that age, you have the concern if he's mature enough to handle the things that come along with being a professional athlete," Suther says. "There were concerns, as there is with any kid that age."

Suther says he thinks Smith has grown up a lot since draft day.

"We all go through things when we're young that change our perspective on life and how we handle situations," Suther says. "Aldon's no different. I think it was a learning experience for him and something he can build upon to make sure those things don't happen in the future."

The 49ers front office ought to be happy to hear that, considering how much of an impact their young rusher figures to have on the team's quest for a Super Bowl. He also benefits from often being lined up alongside Justin Smith, the bull rusher touted as among the best defensive players in the league.

"It's a team thing," Harbaugh says of the prospect of Aldon Smith setting the record.

The man tasked with blocking Smith on a daily basis in practice backs that up. Practice squad tackle Kenny Wiggins says even the best defenses in the league don't work as well together as the 49ers do. Wiggins played for the Baltimore Ravens, practicing against their defense, and offers a comparison.

"It was a great experience playing against one of the best defenses ever with Ray Lewis, Terrell Suggs and Ed Reed," Wiggins says. "But out there I kind of feel like it's every man for himself, do your own thing. But here you see Justin setting up moves for Aldon, and it's more of a whole team atmosphere here."

There are four more games to see if that team concept can result in an unprecedented milestone for one pass rusher.